Engineer to finish sentence in rehab

A Christchurch engineer convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice after an American polo player died of a drug overdose at his home will complete the rest of his sentence at an Auckland rehabilitation facility.

Joseph Douglas McGirr faced a number of charges after Lauren Biddle was found lifeless in a spa pool at McGirr’s home near Sumner in Christchurch on October 22, 2018.

An autopsy found she had a concentration of MDMA in her system about 15 times greater than the usual level of recreational use of the drug.

McGirr was cleared of supplying a class B controlled drug to Biddle, but was convicted of attempting to pervert the course of justice after he frantically cleaned the house before police arrived and buried Biddle’s belongings.

On March 5, McGirr was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment.

Judge Tom Gilbert said at the time he did not think a sentence of home detention would be appropriate in McGirr’s case as his actions in the past created the impression that he thought ‘‘compliance with court orders is optional’’. He granted McGirr leave to apply for his sentence to be commuted to a non-custodial sentence, but only to a residential drug and alcohol treatment programme.

Yesterday, McGirr appeared in the Christchurch District Court to request to be released to a privately funded drug and alcohol rehabilitation programme in Auckland. The proposed programme involved a 30-day residential programme followed by five months in a sober living house.

McGirr’s sentence of imprisonment was cancelled and substituted for eight months of home detention to be spent at the rehabilitation centre and at the sober living home.